


Protective web

by Meatbunattack



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Hallowed ground au, Herrah be amazing, Herrah drabble, Hornet exits but NOT child of Pale King, Hornet is Herrah's child and someone else's, Hornets dad in this AU revealed at the end of drabble, WL is an evil soul sucking parasite, and badass, this one was fun to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29115813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatbunattack/pseuds/Meatbunattack
Summary: Herrah the beast. Queen of spiders and mother of Hornet.She didn't really have a favourable relationship with the kingdom of Hallownest that the Pale being had made. So when the disease broke out, Herrah didn't hesitate to block out her kingdom from everything else.She KNEW where this had come from. And she was not thrilled that the Wyrm had been enthralled by a predator.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59
Collections: Tangled Roots





	Protective web

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr as Meatbunattack and proud co-creator of this AU thingie~.
> 
> This is the fifth part I wrote for Hallowed ground AU where the White Lady is an evil soul sucking parasite. The basic "game" is then that the twins, pure vessel and Ghost, untouched by void must embark on a journey to escape their evil mother's hungry jaws and gather up allies.
> 
> THESE CHILDREN ARE NOT TOUCHED BY VOID. THEY HAVE A VOICE.
> 
> Yeh, feel free to ask about the AU thing in my personal inbox or aggieio-chaos on tumblr.
> 
> Note: This is a collection of drabbles, not a full story. So the time lines might jump around between the works and scenes within this collection this drabble fic thingie is a part of.

Herrah the beast.

It had become a nickname and a title for the queen of spiders for her combat ability. She was one of the few mortal bugs who could fight toe on toe with the Pale Wyrm, which she had done in the past. 

A fierce warrior and protector, that’s who she was and who she would always be.

However, the one thing she couldn’t protect her people from was a disease that plagued the bugs from the inside out and took control of their bodies. Like there was some  _ sick _ puppetmaster behind all of it.

Deepnest and Hallownest made by that glowing Wyrm and his root have never really had a good relationship. While they always kept their meetings professional, there was always that underlying tension between herself and the Wyrm. Two stubborn minds who clashed against one another with different beliefs. The only reason they kept friendly terms with Hallownest was because they couldn’t risk a war and needed the food provided from the trade of their silk To grow steadily in numbers without cannibalism getting involved.  


Herrah had seen the queen of Hallownest  _ once _ and could immediately say that she detested the creature.

She had seen the White Lady in passing as she was being led towards a meeting with the Pale King by one of his skittish retainers. Such small bugs who get scared so easily. While she  _ could _ bite their head off she wouldn’t as long as they kept their mouths shut and idiotic thoughts to themselves.

The plant queen had been in the courtyard and interacting with that knight Dryya. Who was apparently the queen’s daughter from a previous marriage? But the queen had her roots around Dryya in what seemed like a loving embrace to any passerby. But to Herrah, it just seemed  _ wrong _ . The way the roots were so close to the knights neck as they spoke. How tense Dryyas posture had been. And when the two queen’s eyes met, it wasn’t that of two queens greeting one another.

It was that of two predators sizing the other up as a threat.

That queen was not a simple, gentle root like she made herself seem to be and all it took for Herrah to notice was one look. Why the Wyrm didn’t realise it, she had no idea. But he’s honestly really stupid to let someone like  _ her _ get so close. She knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn’t exactly call out the queen on it.

And with how the roots of these infected victims glowed white, Herrah had a sneaking suspicion on who could be behind all of this… But  _ how _ she was doing it, Herrah had no idea.

The moment the first case of this root disease was found, through her spies not through anyone in Hallownest  _ telling _ her about it, she was quick to close off Deepnest from the rest of the kingdom and hissed at anyone who tried to speak up against the decision. They had no choice in the matter, they had to distance themselves from that  _ thing _ as much as possible. They can deal with food shortages! They have dealt with that before. But they could  _ not _ handle a predator higher being, and Herrah doubted even she could. She didn’t need that watcher either, so she ignored his summons when it came. It was just another risk to her people.

But closing off Deepnest had proved to be futile, the infection still found its way into the critters they ate and spread that way. Herrah and her soldiers had been forced to kill many of her own people as they fled to the abandoned tramway that wretched Wyrm had left behind. While she hadn’t liked that he tried to build this thing in her kingdom, the Wyrms' work was always sturdy. So they used the abandoned materials the Wyrm had left to create a protective dome for herself and the survivors to live in. 

As protected as they could be, at least.

Every now and then, a chosen warrior left the den to hunt and sometimes Herrah herself went. They always had to make sure to inspect the food they consumed, so the flesh didn’t have hints of that ugly white thing. At least it all glowed so it was easier to spot within Deepnests darkness.

Herrah was pleasantly surprised when a hunter returned with both food and a message from Monomon, that she wanted to meet with the queen to discuss a strategy to destroy this disease. She hadn’t thought that they’d try and contact her again, she wouldn’t ignore the summon this time, things were getting more dire.  


So she agreed and shared everything she knew with Monomon, the Watcher and that warrior who smelled horribly had been there as well. She could respect his strength without appreciating his smell like the other two seemed to do, how they could stand it she had no idea.

Monomon was to research this thing, even though Herrah had already told her suspicion they wanted to make sure. As if her instincts were something to spit at. But that’s what it’s like to interact with bugs who work more with their heads than their bodies. She has never and will never enjoy it…

She got tanks of acid from monomon to clear those pesky roots with, they had tried to search their way up into the old tramway but with the acid, it could be kept at bay.

Hornet, the daughter she had together with a father who never visited, was annoyed that she couldn’t go anywhere. And before Herrah knew it, she had already gone…

And returned with two pale children.

They had to have been the craft of that Wyrm and root. And while Herrah was ready to throw them out of her settlement, Hornet was quick to vouch for them. Apparently they had done battle and while Hornet was weakened, roots had caught her and tried to infect her as well. The small fire she had from her father wasn’t enough to hurt the roots, she had tired, but these children saved her.

So Herrah let them stay. Let them interact with her daughter and her people to know more about the infection. Then the two children were off, leaving the spiders to their own devices.

Only to return not too long after and spoke about a lantern that had a flame just like Hornet had. Asking Hornet if she knew anything about it and that voice that spoke.

After a bit of questioning, Herrah concluded that Hornets father was being an absolute _coward_ who didn’t want to come here because of that _darkness damned_ **Root**. 

Ooooh no, If Herrah was forced to deal with this stuff and he could be summoned here, he was  _ not _ going to leave her alone in this mess. Much less leave their  _ daughter _ alone in this mess!

So she excused herself from her people for a while and followed these children to the nightmare lantern they had found by the howling cliffs. She had a certain nightmare god to drag over and make him  _ fight _ like the warrior she knew Grimm was.


End file.
